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Thursday, 18 August 2016

She is ancient...

The lovely image on the front cover was drawn by our daughter Emma (age 15).

She is ancient…

She is the landscape beneath our feet

She is the mountains and the hills

She is the rock and stone that leads down to
the shore

She is wisdom

She is knowledge

She is mysteries

She is the old hag

She is The Cailleach

The Cailleach
came to me many years ago when I had been on the witchcraft pathway for six or
seven years and had worked with a lot of different deities, although most of
them came from the Celtic pantheon I have always been open to whatever deity
that makes itself known, each encounter has been for a very good reason. I wasn’t looking for a matron goddess in
fact I was reading a work of fiction, a pretty good ‘twists and turns’ mystical
thriller where the heroine of the story was assisted by a blue face hag that
hung in the shadows, she was named The Cailleach Bheur. After reading that book I kept hearing and
seeing her name mentioned (obviously not in the supermarket but in other things
I read and as I surfed the net), this goddess was most definitely trying to get
my attention so I started on a journey with her that I have never regretted, not
even on the bad days when she kicks my butt because I don’t listen…

In writing
this book I have drawn upon myths, legends and folk lore because although there
are one or two historic documents that mention her name most of her ‘history’
has been passed down through storytelling and folk tales. Most of the written information is relatively
recent as in the last couple of centuries the rest is just given to us in the
form of folk stories and hints in the ancient monuments and the names of places
that seem to be associated with her.

I can only
present you with the information I have discovered, it is up to you to choose
which pieces resonate with you and which don’t.
I have also added a chapter on how to work with her on a magical basis this
is taken from my own personal experience with her.

She has many
myths and legends all passed down verbally and most of them have the same
theme, that of renewal. Each generation
adding or changing bits of the story to suit the times and I think this has
happened particularly with The Cailleach turning her from a goddess of
creation, wisdom, harmony and rebirth into a dark and evil hag. She does seem to have been given the
‘Hollywood’ treatment making her out to be the ‘bad guy’ trapping her in the
confines of winter. But she is so much
more…

Whether you
would like to work with The Cailleach on a magical basis or are just interested
in her legend I hope you will enjoy this introduction and then seek her out. Please bear in mind that each and every one
of us has our own personal pathway and we will all have individual and unique
experiences with deity. Nothing is right
or wrong there is only YOUR experience.